Last Wednesday as our annual Fallguide was being delivered, we greeted its arrival with a sense of discomfort. We had sent it to the printers on Monday night; by the time it returned, terrorism had slammed into the nation and its consciousness on a level few Americans had ever contemplated — or could have. Between Monday and Wednesday, the world changed.
This week, we survey some of those changes, indistinct as their outlines may be. Frequent contributor John Smock, who lives in New York, took our cover photo on Wednesday, a couple blocks north and west of the World Trade Center, where several cars had been towed. Flowers were being placed on impromptu memorials all over the city, and someone had scrawled in the ashes on a car one question that gnaws at us all: Why? It was “surreal,” “mind-numbing,” “unsettling,” John told us.
Also on the site this week: Columnists Jack Lessenberry and Keith A. Owens grapple with the politics and rage of the aftermath. Loose Lips columnist Sarah Klein reports on a city cautiously going on with a major festival. In a piece from the Nation, Jonathan Schell, the author of The Fate of the Earth, hears a wake-up call to dangers Americans have been ignoring since the end of the Cold War. [Please note that Mr. Schell's commentary will open in a new browser window.]
And Metro Times news editor Curt Guyette sorts through the conflicting emotions as we try to make sense of tragedy — and the emphasis here is on including points of view that are being downplayed or ignored in the mainstream media.
Like you, we are trying to fathom what still seems in many way unfathomable. We’ll look for your thoughts and comments to inform us as we go forward in this uncertain new world.
Partnership with Crain’s
Beginning this week, visitors to the Web sites of Crain’s Detroit Business and Metro Times will discover a new synergy between the two institutions. Visitors to Crain’s at www.crainsdetroit.com will find the popular Metro Times restaurant reviews. Meanwhile, visitors to Metro Times’ site will find breaking news about local business. Each site will include “stickers” directing users to the other site’s regularly updated content.
“Our two weekly newspapers have a long tradition of serving specific niche information needs,” said Crain’s associate publisher Mary Kramer.
“Users of our Web site have a voracious appetite for news, and Crain’s provides need-to-know business news in this market,” said Metro Times publisher David Jost.
W. Kim Heron is Metro Times interim editor. Send comments to [email protected].
